Nothing like the morning glow of a great football victory, which gives you confidence and peace of mind the rest of the week, and makes it much more pleasant to watch the remaining weekend of games. Some key plays (in my mind) from yesterday's win that stick:

1. The Milton Knox play. His beautiful, MJD-esque move on 3rd and 10 that saved our only touchdown drive and made up for a missed block by Hasiak. Knox followed that up with another first down run, and is looking more and more like a major playmaker.

2. The goal line stand. Here's where I have some criticism. Our stop on 4th down was superb -- but I would've taken a timeout to make sure my two best DTs (by far) were in the game for that play. In 1997, Bob Toledo called a 4th down goal line running play for Jermaine Freakin Lewis at WSU because Skip Hicks was "tired." We had one timeout remaining, and that decision cost us a trip to the Rose Bowl that year. We know what happened to SC against Texas.

Maybe someone can tell me why it would've been wrong to use a timeout there, but otherwise I think nothing's more important than having your best players in for a game-deciding play. Just a thought.

3. What gave me the most hope going into yesterday's game was Jonothan Crompton. A lot is said about the balanced nature of football, but I can't get over the fact that a bad QB is almost insurmountable. For the second year in a row Crompton made his vaunted, humongous O-line look bad (at least to me). It seems that any underdog has a chance against a sub-par QB, no matter how the rest of the team matches up. (See 13-9, and almost any UCLA loss since 1998, excepting one fluky year from Drew Olson.)

4. Chuck Bullough. A very sound start from him -- after that disastrous first quarter last week. For every possession since, our defense has looked very...coordinated, with no blown plays and few schematic gaps. Then again, we're yet to face a real QB. But still promising.

5. Lane Kiffin. He looked very, very nervous on that sideline.

6. I've never in my life seen an illegal formation penalty on a field goal, an immediate safety call when the ball has obviously crossed the goal-line, or a delay-of-game penalty that came before the clock expired. Whatever.

***Forgot add, number 7: 

I think I'm ready to see Thigpen or an actual playmaker return the kicks. Austin has never impressed me as a returner -- he's extremely hesitant on kick-offs, and makes poor decisions on punts. He has some good ones now and then, but for a senior he isn't very wise, and he certainly doesn't have gamebreaking speed.

I know it's tough replacing a senior, but personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Thigpen back there (or Carroll?).